Nicolson Notes - At start of a new term

At the beginning of a new year and a new term, I would like to take this opportunity to wish all parents and pupils a very Happy New Year.

This is always a very busy time for staff, pupils and their families, so I wish you all the best with the weeks ahead.

YPI FINAL

The Nicolson Institute held its third annual YPI (Youth and Philanthropy Initiative) final at the end of last term.

All S5 pupils are involved with the initiative as part of their RME (Religious and Moral Education) course, .

The main purpose of which is to encourage engagement of young people with charitable causes and to raise the profile of worthy causes in the community and amongst the youngsters.

The finalists were seven teams whittled down from an initial 25 participating groups. Each group had to choose a local charity and compete against one another to win the coveted £3000 prize.

The competition was judged by Councillor Catriona Stewart (Chair of Education), Councillor Zena Stewart (former Depute Rector) and Mr Donald MacLeod (Senior Education Officer).

The judges were impressed with all the entries but were sure they had a clear winner at the end.

In the final there were two groups representing Alzheimer’s Scotland, two groups representing the RNLI, two groups representing Hebridean Men’s Cancer Support and one group representing Western Isles Women’s Cancer Support. The finalists produced very convincing cases for their charities and used a variety of different media.

There were videos, PowerPoint presentations and even a short play. In the end the winners were Leah MacKay, Jessica MacDonald, Lia MacDonald, Shannah MacKay and Ellie MacIver who made an outstanding video presentation about their engagement with Alzheimer’s Scotland.

Pictured above are the winning team.

ATHLETICS SUCCESS

Congratulations to Kyle Munro (S5), Finlay Emmott (S4) and David Morrison (S2) who ran for Team North in the Inter District Cross Country Championships in Holyrood Park last Saturday.

The boys were selected to run after excellent performances in the North District Championships in December.

A huge well done to David Morrison who was the third runner home from the north of Scotland - he won a team bronze medal for his performance.

HERZLICHEN GLÜCKWUNSCH!

The S2 German Elective class celebrated after finishing their first SQA qualification – Modern Languages for Life.

The pupils have been learning German since August during their Elective periods on a Thursday afternoon.

As well as learning the language, pupils also sampled Lebkuchen (gingerbread) and Stollen (fruit cake), watched a German film and learned about German customs and culture.